How to Stop Videos from Automatically Playing on Facebook

After the tragic and disturbing video of the recent news crew incident (I’m being vague here on purpose out of respect for the families, and because the man responsible deserves not one more shred of attention) I have been asked why Facebook has the videos in the news feed play automatically.

The answer is because it increases views, shares and “connection.” Unfortunately in circumstances like this, it can make you sick to your stomach before you’ve even had your coffee.

The solution, though, is to OPT OUT on Facebook. You can change your settings. It works differently on desktop version and mobile devices, so I’ll go over both here.

How to OPT OUT of Facebook newsfeed video autoplay on your laptop or desktop:

1. Click in upper right hand corner, and scroll down to Settings and click it.

2. At the very bottom of the left-hand menu, click on Videos.

3. Turn OFF Auto-play Videos

For MOBILE DEVICES:

It’s a little trickier, but still possible.

You can adjust the Facebook app’s auto-play settings to On, Wi-Fi only or Off.

To adjust the auto-play settings on your Android phone or tablet:

Open the Facebook app

Tap

Scroll down and tap App Settings

Tap Video Auto-play

Choose an option

Note: If you don’t see the Video Auto-play settings on your Android phone, log out of the Facebook app. When you log back into Facebook, Video Auto-play should be visible in App Settings.

To adjust the auto-play settings on your iPhone or iPad:

Open the Facebook app

Tap

Scroll down and tap Settings

Tap Videos > Autoplay

Choose an option

Note: If you don’t see Videos in your iPhone or iPad’s Facebook app settings, try updating the Facebook app.

I, myself, have opted out of autoplay for many reasons. The one mentioned above is a given, but I also don’t like being distracted into watching something. I hope this instructional has helped.